confusion about eating seasonally

I went to the farmer's market on Thursday with a list of several vegetables that I needed for a recipe. I know, this is exactly what I said not to do in an earlier post: don't have an agenda when you go to the farmer's market- just let the food speak to you. Well, as with most things in life, this is easier said than done (although I commend Alice Waters for working in that way.)

In my defense, the recipe I had in mind was chicken pot pie, which I consider to be an appropriate seasonal dish in late autumn. I was sure that I'd have no problem finding the vegetables I was after: celeriac (aka celery root), parsnips, and sweet potatoes. These are all root vegetables, and to my thinking, root vegetables are ripe in the late autumn and winter months.

You can imagine my surprise when, instead of finding the root vegetables I desired, I instead encountered fresh, beautiful strawberries. In November! How could this be? I grew up in Virginia, where strawberries have a very definite 4-6 week season, usually lasting from early June to mid-July. I imagined these were hydroponic strawberries (if such a thing exists), or that the wool was being pulled over my eyes in some fashion. First, I tasted a strawberry. Delicious! The very essence of a fruit at the height of its season. So I asked the farmer, (a gentleman from Lucero Organic Farms in Lodi), "How is it that you have fresh strawberries in November?" He told me that in the Central Valley, the strawberry season typically lasts from March through December, or until "the first really bad weather." Amazing!

Knowing which fruits and vegetables are in season is undeniably challenging in 21st century America, when our grocery stores stock the same produce year-round, often failing to mention the geographical origin of that produce. Our best strategy, then, is to have a general sense of what should be in season at what time of year, and then seek information that confirms the produce was not shipped from across the globe. Right now, for instance, the heirloom tomatoes at the Berkeley farmer's market are still seasonal and locally grown, as hard as it is for me to believe that a tomato can be fresh and ripe in November. At my Safeway, on the other hand, the only heirloom tomatoes to be found have two critical pieces of information on the label: "Emeril's" and "Mexico." The first piece tells me that these tomatoes are caught in a large corporate supply chain, which at some point included allowing Emeril Lagasse to brand its tomatoes. The second tells me that those particular tomatoes are neither local nor seasonal in Northern California.

(As a quick aside: in researching the origin of the Emeril's heirloom tomatoes, I couldn't find anything on Emeril's website. I did learn, however, that Emeril was the first celebrity chef to have his food consumed in space. I guess he's not too concerned about the local foods movement!)

In a future post I plan to give a "seasonality chart" of fruits and vegetables in North America, to be used only as a rough guide. The best guide, of course, is the farmers and growers from your region.

P.S. I found the sweet potato at the farmer's market, and I ended up substituting turnips for parsnips. I found some California-grown celeriac at the Berkeley Bowl, but I'm still not sure why none of the growers at the farmer's market had any to sell me. Oh well.

rBST follow-up: Starbucks and Chipotle go hormone-free

I thought I'd let you know, as a follow-up to an earlier post, that Chipotle has stopped using rBST in all their dairy products. (Chipotle has long been a leader in the fast-food industry in terms of ethical treatment of animals. All of their pork and much of their chicken/beef is naturally raised, without hormones or antibiotics, and with plenty of room to roam or graze.) Read the article about Chipotle's decision.

Starbucks has also caved to consumer demand and committed to going 100% rBST-free in all of its "core dairy products" (which they define as "liquid milk, half and half, whipping cream and egg nog) by the end of 2007. Read Starbucks' letter to Food and Water Watch. (As an aside: who knew that egg nog was a "core dairy product"???)

Hurray for consumer activism!

more ethical-eating books

In reviewing my posts, I realized that I hadn't mentioned two of the books that have been most influential both in my own eating choices and in my decision to start this blog. You've no doubt heard of both of them, as they were both bestsellers.

The first book, which I absolutely think you should read if you're at all interested in this subject, is The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.

I read this book last year, and it changed how I think and feel about almost everything I eat. Pollan examines the people and processes behind every step of our food chain. The "four meals" of the title are fast food, organic, locally farmed, and hunted/gathered. Among the information I learned from this book includes:

-Over 25% of the SKUs (items) in a supermarket contain corn or a corn-based derivative

-"Organic" foods do not always deserve a place on the righteousness pedestal (more about this in a future post, I promise!)

-Many small farmers do not use pesticides, antibiotics, or other chemicals, and yet still cannot (or choose not to) be labeled "organic."

Aside from being chock-full of great information, this book is a captivating read. Michael Pollan teaches here in Berkeley- you can learn more about him at his website. If you don't have time to read the book and would prefer just a few of his articles, my favorites can be found here and here.

The second book, which feels a little less like a research paper and more like a good ol' fashioned ethical-food yarn, is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. She describes a year in which she, her husband, and her two daughters commit to eating only locally grown/raised foods. Her book really made me think about what it means to eat seasonally, and how difficult (but noble) it would be to be a locavore. Her book even includes recipes, and her husband and older daughter contribute to the writing. It's an easy, enjoyable and enlightening read.

And there you have it- few recommendations for Christmas presents or for your next trip to the library.

sustainable foods search engine

Hey folks!

I just wanted to tell you about the newest feature of my blog- a search engine from the good people at Eat Well Guide and Sustainable Table. Look to the right hand side of the page (at the top of my blog) and you'll see the orange search box where you can search for restaurants, stores and farms in your community that offer sustainable foods. Just enter your zip code and voilà! You'll have a list of places in your neighborhood where you can purchase or eat ethically-grown (or raised) foods. I'm excited because my search turned up a restaurant right near me that I didn't even know about, that apparently offers comfort food from happy cows and pigs. Pretty cool.

I hope you find the search engine as useful as I do. Let me know how you like it!

dairy products demystified

If you're a label-reader, as I am, then you may have come across the following message on one of your dairy products: "Does not contain the growth hormone rBST." This message is generally followed by an asterisk, with a fine-print footnote that says, "Federal tests have proven that there is no significant difference between rBST treated milk and non-rBST treated milk."

This message strikes me as fairly cryptic. If there is no difference between treated and untreated milk, then why brag about it? But can it be possible that there is no difference? What is rBST, anyway? Should I be avoiding dairy products from rBST-fed cows?

rBST stands for recombinant bovine somatotropin. It's also known as rBGH, or recombinant bovine growth hormone. Basically, it's a synthetic version of a naturally-occurring growth hormone that aids cows in lactation. Cows that are administered a synthetic version are able to lactate longer and thereby produce more milk over their lactation cycle than cows that rely only on the naturally-occurring BST. If you are beginning to think this sounds like a clever way for industrial agriculture to increase their yields, you're onto something. In fact, rBST was developed by Monsanto and sells under the brand name Posilac.

With rBST, as is so often the case with industrial agriculture, steps taken by large corporations to increase yield and productivity on the farm run counter to basic concerns about animal welfare, human health and environmental protection. Let's take these concerns one by one.

Animal Welfare

Cows treated with rBST are up to 50% more likely to develop "lameness" (hoof problems), mastitis (inflamation of the udder), and failure to conceive.

Human Health

Monsanto goes to great lengths to convince consumers that there is no difference between rBST-treated dairy products and untreated products. However, concerned citizens' groups such as The Center for Food Safety point to research that shows that rBST-treated milk demonstrates higher levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Higher levels of IGF are correlated to higher incidence of breast, prostate and colon cancers.

Environmental Concerns

Every time we administer antibiotics, artificial hormones or other chemicals to livestock, residual amounts end up in our water supply. (This concern was one of the leading drivers of the original "organic" movement.)

Other food for thought

No other industrialized country in the world allows the sale of rBST-treated dairy products.

So where does that leave us? Industrial agriculture's (read: Monsanto's) argument is that rBST increases milk yield, which is good for farmers (they make more profits) and good for consumers (the cost of milk is kept lower). I think these claims should be taken with a grain of salt. Monsanto is the entity that stands to profit the most from sales of rBST. When an equation exists that says farmers must increase production so that consumer prices stay low, then the only farmers who stand to gain are the largest farmers, not the small or medium-sized farmers. Finally, if we take costs to human health in consideration, then the true price of rBST-treated dairy products is much higher than the sticker price we face at the grocery stores.

For those of us living in Northern California, it seems that most of our milk is already rBST-free. Indeed, Trader Joe's, Safeway and Whole Foods (my main grocery stores, when I'm not shopping at the farmer's markets) have all banned rBST milk (at least in my region). (Read the Chronicle article here.) But when I'm in other parts of the country and have to decide between milk from treated or untreated cows, I'll gladly spend the extra few cents to keep the artificial hormone out of the cows' diet and thereby out of mine.

shrewdfood books for my birthday

Happy Birthday to me!!!
It is indeed a very happy birthday because my parents (who know me so well!) gave me three delightful-looking books, all about food. Excellent! Two in particular deserve mention here, since they are relevant to my blog:

1. The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters. If you've been reading along, you know how I feel about lovely Ms. Waters. I can't wait to read this book! I think the back cover nicely sums up both the philosophy of the book, and the philosophy I'm trying to eat by:



"Eat locally & sustainably
Eat seasonally
Shop at farmers' markets
Plant a garden
Conserve, compost & recycle
Cook simply
Cook together
Eat together
Remember food is precious"

2. Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways To Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients into Your Cooking by Heidi Swanson. Heidi is the blogger behind Mighty Foods, one of my favorite food blogs. But little did I know she has a book out- and a delightful-looking book at that. I'll be sure to blog my reviews, after I've read them.




Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Love, your Halloween-baby

saying no to CAFOs

The cognitive dissonance was too much. In the past few months I've driven I-5 between Los Angeles and San Francisco at least 6 times, and each time I've had to pass two CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations- more commonly known as "factory farms") right along the highway. I look out at the cows, terribly unhappy cows, standing in their own manure, waiting out their days at the corn-filled feed trough, never to graze again on their beloved grass, the food they were meant to eat. And I realize that every day I eat beef that was not grass-finished, I am directly supporting these animals' misery. And yet I have continued to turn a blind eye, ignoring their suffering because it was convenient for me to do so.

Well, no more. As of a week ago I decided to give up factory-farmed beef. When I go to the grocery store, all this decision means is that I'll spend extra (and have to look a bit harder) when shopping for beef. But the other implications of my decision include: no more Trader Joe's carne asada, no more In-N-Out, and no more eating beef of any kind at almost all restaurants. (Soon I hope to publish a list of links to restaurants that offer only grass-finished beef on their menus.)

Needless to say, G thinks I'm crazy (especially for giving up In-N-Out). But what I think is crazy is how we Americans have allowed these farms to develop in the first place, let alone become the dominant system of agriculture in the U.S. And since not even Nancy Pelosi can get a better farm bill passed, I'll vote with my wallet instead.

(Photo by Kent Kessinger and used by permission.)